There are 180 days until Missouri plays their first real game in the post-Blaine Gabbert era.
If one of those individual interim days means anything, Blaine’s younger brother may have greatly improved his chances of continuing the Gabbert bloodline under center for the Tigers.
Presumptive front-runner James Franklin completed 18-of-34 passes for 122 yards, a touchdown and an interception during a scrimmage this weekend. Tyler Gabbert -- yes, Blaine’s brother -- was 20-of-27 for 206 yards and a touchdown.
While one day in March doesn’t make or break a quarterback competition that won’t be decided for another few months regardless, it is another data point that very clearly states the new Gabbert isn’t simply leaning on his name to state his case. Of course, Gabbert was mainly working with and against the No. 2’s, while Franklin saw mostly the No. 1’s on both sides of the ball, so the stats should be taken with a healthy helping of salt.
For head coach Gary Pinkel, it seems as if the not-so-statistical body language as well as other undefinable traits of the players at that position is equal to, or greater than, any statistical production.
“I always use the term — you’ve heard me use it before — you get dirty out here,” the coach said. “Things don’t go well. For everybody, that’s what we call ‘whistle to snap.’ What do you do when the whistle blows, after the play is over, until the next snap? We watch that. We talk to all players and certainly our quarterbacks about body language, about leadership on the field. That’s all part of good quarterbacking.”
Before the start of spring practice, offensive coordinator David Yost praised Gabbert v2.0 for his mental grasp of the system.
“He’s got the least experience in the system, but he’s got a great knowledge of the system,” Yost said a week ago. “He’s worked his tail off this offseason studying. He knows what’s going on. He knows everything. Now it’s just a matter of playing the position and knowing, ‘OK, this is what this play looks like when I run it. This is what it looks like when I draw it on the board. This is what is looks like on video.’”
Based on at least one scrimmage, it appears Gabbert is mixing the mental with the on-field physical stuff. At the very least, it’ll be a very interesting competition to watch in the coming months.